McDonnell`s great sin, however, was
that hedid
not mention slavery. The reactions were predictable.
Kaine, now Democratic National Committee Chairthing,
wailed,

"Governor
McDonnell`s decision to designate April as Confederate
History Month without condemning, or even acknowledging,
the pernicious stain of slavery or its role in the war
disregards history, is insensitive to the extraordinary
efforts of Americans to eliminate slavery and bind the
nation`s wounds, and offends millions of Americans of
all races and in all parts of our nation…

NR Editor
Ramesh Ponnuru used his special status as token“conservative” blogger at the
Washington Post to pontificate that McDonnell`s

“…failure to
mention slavery was a moral and historical mistake; it
is also, I think, a political one. Gov. McDonnell has
been widely hailed–and I`ve been one of the hailers–as
showing Republicans the way toward rebuilding a national
majority. One of his accomplishments during the campaign
was to show that blacks are welcome, indeed sought
after, in his coalition. This move undercuts that
effort, which damages Republicans and conservatives not
only among blacks but among non-black voters as well.

“The governor
should acknowledge his error and strive to repair the
damage.” [A
Provocative Proclamation,
Ramesh Ponnuru,Washington Post`s
Right Matters, April 7, 2010]

It is difficult to say how McDonnell was“historically wrong” in the proclamation. It made no factual error
and simply offered no interpretation of the war`s
causes. And I`m not sure what`s not“moral” about
promoting tourism.

As for the politics, McDonnell`s great outreach to
blacks amounted to procuring the endorsement of Black
Entertainment Television founder Sheila Johnson, and
persuading former black Democratic Governor L. Douglas
Wilder to stay out of the gubernatorial race entirely.
Needless to say, Johnson and Wilder—who had actually
saluted the Confederate flag on a notable occasion
in 1999—both
attacked McDonnell over the proclamation.

Yet what did their support/non-opposition amount to?
McDonnell received a whopping nine percent of the black
vote—an improvement of one percent over McCain. But
McDonnell received 67% of the white vote, who made up
78% of the Virginia electorate. McDonnell`s new“coalition”
was White Republicans, White Democrats, and White
Independents.

But this pseudo-outreach made
Ponnuru and other GOP publicists instantly declare
McDonnell a national leader, and he was duly given the
response to Obama`s State of the Union.

Not wanting to lose this status,
McDonnell groveled in time-honored fashion:

“The failure to include any reference to slavery was a mistake, and for
that I apologize to any fellow Virginian who has been
offended or disappointed. The abomination of slavery
divided our nation, deprived people of their God-given
inalienable rights, and led to the Civil War. Slavery
was an evil, vicious and inhumane practice which
degraded human beings to property, and it has left a
stain on the soul of this state and nation. In 2007, the
Virginia General Assembly approved a formal statement of
`profound regret` for the Commonwealth`s history of
slavery, which was the right thing to do. [McDonnell
issues thorough apology for leaving slavery out of
proclamation,Washington Post,
April 7, 2010]

This groveling is nothing new in
Virginia. When, pre-Macaca,
GOP Senator George Allen was touted as a potential
presidential candidate, many leftists
made a lot of the fact that he had a
noose outside his office as a District Attorney and
a Confederate flag in his house. Rather than defend his
positions, Allen
co-sponsored a resolution to apologize for lynching.

Indeed, Virginia Republicans have
been perfectly happy to make political attacks on any
recognition of the South`s heritage when it suits them.

Thus in 2002, Ben Jones—who is best
known for his role of Cooter in theDukes of Hazzard—ran
as a Democrat against Eric Cantor, now Republican minority Whip,
in Virginia`s seventh congressional district. Jones
campaigned in the famous
General Lee—a bright orange
Dodge Charger with a
Confederate flag painted on the roof—from the TV
show. Cantor responded by releasing fliers asserting
“He proudly flies the Confederate flag and is making
Southern heritage a major part of his campaign,” in
contrast to Cantor who“believes
everyone is entitled to their own opinions about
Southern heritage. However, he is a United States
Congressman, and he is focused on the issues of TODAY."
[Wilder
chides Democrats for Jones` use of Confederate flag,
Bob Lewis, Associated Press, September 19, 2002]

Ostensibly, a lot of the outrage at
McDonnell is not so much because of his declaration of
Confederate History Month, but because of his failure to
mention slavery. But the fact is that slavery gets
plenty of attention from all levels of American
government. Virginia issued the
formal apology for slavery that McDonnell now says
he supports. The U.S. House of Representatives also
passed an official apology. Fredericksburg, VA is
currently creating $200 million National Slavery Museum
paid for by corporations and tax payers. It has had some
funding problems, but we can be sure this
controversy will be used to get McDonnell to pony up
some more money.

In 2007, when Barack Obama was
asked where a Confederate flag should be displayed, he
responded
“in a museum.” But it turns out we aren`t even
allowed to have museums.

The issue
of Southern Heritage goes far beyond the Civil War.
Personally, I believe that the South`s decision to
secede was
imprudent and was indeed done largely to preserve
the institution of slavery—but it was nonetheless
constitutionally justified. However, the reason I oppose
the modern attacks on the Confederacy is that they are
really attacks on America.

For
better or worse, many American heroes owned slaves. And
most prominent Americans through the mid-twentieth
century held
views that would be denounced as“racist”
today. Even
Abraham Lincoln stated that“I am not, nor
ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the
social and political equality of the white and black
races.”.” [Fourth
Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Charleston, Illinois,
September 18, 1858]

If we need to apologize for and
remove all semblances of racism, then we may as well
abolish all of
pre-MLK-redeemed America.

In fact, exactly this is already
happening. In 1992, the city of New Orleans issued a
policy to rename all public schools named after slave
owners and started with
Robert E. Lee and
P.G.T. Beauregard. It didn`t stop there, and changed
George Washington Elementary to honor black Dr. Charles
Drew who is
falsely credited for advances in blood transfusion.
According to
activist Carl Galmon who helped lead the fight:
“Why should African-Americans want their kids to pay
respect or pay homage to someone who enslaved their
ancestors?…To African-Americans, George Washington has
about as much meaning as David Duke.” [Blacks
Strip Slaveholders` Names Off Schools, By Kevin
Sack, New York
Times, November 12, 1997]